TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian Foreign Affairs Ministry's head of the Leadership Strategic Support Bureau (BDSP), Achmad Rizal Purnama, on Thursday said the meeting between Minister Retno Marsudi and France's Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly can be viewed as a sign that both countries are in close bilateral relations.

“The maturity, trust, confidence between the two countries in discussing foreign political issues and defense in one forum surely illustrate how mature the bilateral relations the two have in politics, defense, and security, especially in the Indo-Pacific partnership,” he said on February 10.

The two state ministers, he said, talked about the mutual commitment to cementing bilateral ties and asserted Indonesia’s role in the stability of indo-Pacific. In the meeting, Indonesia hopes for significant developments across the Indonesia-EU Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (I-EU CEPA) during the French presidency of the European Union (EU). The issue of discrimination in the palm oil trade was also raised in Retno's meeting with Parly.

Another aspect discussed in the meeting was the importance of developing long-term cooperation that has strategic value, such as defense equipment joint production, joint training, technological transfer and investment in the industrial sector.

"It is this concrete cooperation that is imperative to continue to promote," said Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi.

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DANIEL AHMAD